what to my wondering eye's should apear...

[Xeider]

but a tank with blue rams (Microgeophagus ramirezi) at my local fish store.

I stopped by today, and saw a tank with a bunch of these at about 1.25" in length. After watching for a while, I saw two that were staying very close to one another who from their colors looked to be male and female. So now, I have this lovely pair floating happily (well I at least hope their happy, I know I am) in their bag.

 

[Xeider]

Well my joy was short lived....

Came in to work this morning to find one dead on the bottom, and the other not moving much hidding, and breathing really hard. By mid morning the fish was barely moving, often turning upside down, but still breathing extremly hard. I came back from lunch to find the blue ram dead. Took both dead fish back to the LFS (Since they have a 7 day guarantee) for a full store credit, only to find out that every Ram in the tank died the night before. They weren't quite sure what happened but I found out that they had only been in the tank for a few hours when I had stopped by yesterday.

The rest of my tank seems completly fine. Tested the water and everthing is looking good (confirmed by the LFS). Now I need to figure if I want to continue trying to get another pair of rams or try for something else....

 

[Moreta]

Rams can be a bit tough to get 'good ones'. Do a search on the cichlid forum for some good advice.

tRacy

 

[Tim Bo]

Not that I know it was the cause of their deaths (internal infections...) but acclimation time can be key for Rams. I always check with an LFS to hear how long they have been in the tank. Rams IME do not appreciate changing water chems over a short time span. I give them atleast 30 minutes acclimation time and do it very carefully. It might be an idea to find out how the water parameters at your LFS differs from yours. Sorry to hear about your bad luck

 

[Xeider]

One nice thing about the LFS near my work (where I got these fish) is that water parameters are very close to what I am running. I ended up floating them for a good 30 minutes before I started adding water slowly from the tank into the bag. They floated for over an hour in the bag before I introduced them.

One thing I learned was to find out how long the fish had been in the tank. They had just arrived that day, and having to endure shipping, going into a new tank, then being netted and acclimated to a new tank was probably too much for them beyond what appears to be some pre-existing problems.

 

[KateA.]

Yes, a good lesson for everyone is to ask how long the fish have been there. A good fish store should have told you, at least I tell my people, not to brag or anything......Fish stores know what fish give them troubles and it's only fair they share that.

We stopped carrying blue and gold rams because the darn things just kept dying all the time. We found another very similar looking fish and have great success with them. Darned if I can remember the name though

 

[dbcb314]

yeah, i accidently one time got a fish the day it came in. I even ordered the fish too, but I did not think about it til the next day when it was dead. luckly, there were still two left at the lfs so i bought them both.

 

[RCA]

Originally posted by KateA.
We stopped carrying blue and gold rams because the darn things just kept dying all the time. We found another very similar looking fish and have great success with them. Darned if I can remember the name though

Could it be the "Bolivian Rams"?
I heard that they're hardier than Blue rams, and look similar (maybe not as colorful).

 

[Tim Bo]

I haven't experienced any difference between Bolivian Rams and Germans in terms of hardiness but like you say, I have also heard
a few stories from people telling me there is often a difference.
I do find the Bolivian Rams less colorful than the Germans and it seems that they are easier to breed - so I guess you could say Bolivian Rams are not as picky about TDS and general water parameters as the German variety.

 

[Xeider]

The bolivian rams (Microgeophagus altispinosa) are suppose to be a lot hardier then the blue rams, and they were what I originally planned on putting in the tank. I came across the blue, and on an impulse bought them. I had been told my lfs rarely has the blue rams, and hasn't ever seen the bolivian.

I am going to try and track down some bolivians, hopefully through the same store as I have store credit for the two dead blue rams.